Ash-smeared sadhu. A sadhu with ash-smeared body is also applying ash to his face near the main cremation ghat at the mystical holiest city of Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh, India).

Sadhus normally pick up ashes from the cremation ground, where a human body has been burned in a funeral wooden pyre. After that, they spread the ashes all over their faces and bodies to feel purified and protected.